Sing a New Song, Dance a New Dance

“Mommy, I don’t need to exercise today, I’m going to dance a new dance.”

I step away from my spreadsheets. The columns remind me that despite God’s wonderful provision and my husband’s hard work, money is still as tight as ever.  It’s tempting to express the same old frustrations about how we can’t seem to get ahead. I don’t want to get up and join her in dance. I want to make the numbers behave. But I can’t. I want to say no, I don’t have time. There is laundry to do and bills to pay. But instead I join her.

For just a few minutes I step away from the grownup world, the material world, and I step into hers. We dance. A new dance. A different dance.

I want to see the world the way she does and I feel ashamed because I realize that is how I am supposed to see the world. My expanding grocery bill is not a burden, but a blessing; a testament to my healthy, growing children. The columns of my spreadsheet remind me that there is money because my husband has job. As I schedule yet another mortgage payment I lift a prayer of thanks that we have a place to live, small as it may be. I want to sing a new song, to dance a new dance. One of gratitude, of faith, of hope, of joy.